ChatGPT Loses ‘Sky’ Voice Amid OpenAI Scarlett Johansson Controversy

May. 21, 2024

It seems OpenAI has been embroiled in several controversies lately. Just a few days ago, OpenAI’s contentious employee exit contract came tolightwhich revealed that it penalized former employees by revoking their equity if they criticized OpenAI. And now OpenAI has dropped the ‘Sky’ voice from ChatGPT after Scarlett Johansson sought clarity from the company on the uncanny similarity.

OpenAI recently launched itsChatGPT 4omodel at the Spring Update event and made it free for everyone. At the event, the company demoed incredibly natural voice conversation using the ChatGPT 4o model. The ‘Sky’ voice seemed eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson’s voice from the movie ‘Her’. Many people noticed it and drew a parallel between both voices.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, couldn’t help it either and tweeted ‘her’ on X. This led to even more buzz in the town. However, just five days after launch, OpenAI dropped the ‘Sky’ voice from ChatGPT. The companyexplainedhow the ChatGPT voices were chosen and the ‘Sky’ voice was sampled from voice actors that OpenAI partnered with.

By the way, OpenAI didn’t name the voice actor behind the ‘Sky’ voice to protect their privacy. Now, in astatementtoThe Verge, Sam Altman said we have paused Sky’s voice “Out of respect for Ms. Johansson“. As for the similarity between the ‘Sky’ voice and Scarlett Johansson’s voice, OpenAI’s blog said the following:

We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice—Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice. To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.

Now, an NPRreportsays that Scarlett Johansson feels betrayed after seeing the uncanny similarity between her and Sky’s voice in ChatGPT. Johansson’s lawyers have written letters to OpenAI asking it to explain “the exact process by which they created the “Sky” voice“.

I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.

Now, Johansson seeks absolute clarity and transparency so that individual rights are protected. What is your opinion on this development? Let us know in the comments below.

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.